Water-closet



I (No Model.) l

' J. C FEBIGER, Jr.

WATER CLSET.

No. 556,178. y PatentedMar. 10,1896.

wlTNEssEs www UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOI-IN C. FEBIGER, J R., OF NEIV ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

WATER-CLOSET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 556,178, dated March 10, 1896.

Application filed June 7, 1895. Serial No. 551,981. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN C. FEBIGER, Jr., of New Orleans, parish of Orleans, State of Louisiana,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Water-Closets, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of my invention is to produce improvements in devices for attaching seats to water-closet bowls in order to prevent the breaking or chipping` of parts of the bowl to which the seat is attached.

One of the objects in the construction of sanitary closets has been to reduce the seatsurface, but heretofore in articles of this class devices for securing the seat to the bowl have proven defective, owing to the fact that the means of attaching the seat to the bowl has been a rigid one, so that when the front buffer-rubbers get hardened or compressed by use the rear buffer-rubbers act as a fulcrum, producing a strain upon the connection between the seat and the bowl, which breaks the bowl at the place of connection.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a side elevation of a closet bowl and seat embodying my invention. Fig. II is a rear sectional view of the same, taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. I and looking toward the bowl. Fig. III is a group of details illustrating the lugplate and pad.

Referring to the figures on the drawings, 1 indicates a closet-bowl made of any suitable and ordinary frangible material-as, for example, china or porcelain. It may be made in any ordinary style or design with any preferred form of vents, or similar, usual or preferred arrangements. It is provided with a rear extension or projection 2 of suitable shape and dimensions, through which the flush-water supply-bore may be introduced, as indicated at 8. It is provided upon opposite sides with parallel vertical surfaces 4.

5 indicates an ordinary seat-block or that portion of the seat which in practice is secured to the bowl and is usually made of wood.

6 indicates the seat hinged, as indicated at 7, to the seat-block.

S indicates the plane of division between the seat-block and the seat.

9 indicates the usual hinged cover or lid.

10 indicates the rear buffers, consisting usually of rubber knobs, and 11 a similar front buffer.

12 indicates each of a pair of bracket-pieces which are secured, respectively, as by screws 13, to the bottom of the seat-block, and whose legs 14 extend opposite to each other along the surfaces 4 and in close proximity thereto.

15 indicates abutment thumb-screws, one of which Works in a screw-threaded aperture in each of the legs 14, preferably near its lower extremity.

16 indicates a vertical recess or slit in the end of each of the legs 14 and in vertical radial alignment with the screw 15.

17 indicates each of two oblong verticallydisposed recesses located upon opposite sides of the projection 2 and sunk through the surfaces 4 thereof.

18 indicates lug-plates that fit within the recesses 17, respectively. They are some what shorter than the recesses, so as to provide a space 19 between their upper ends and the upper ends of the recesses, respectively.

2O indicates a lug on each of the lug-plates, which works in the slit 1G of the leg 14.

21 indicates a pad of rubber or suitable yielding material, which is designed to afford l between the lug-plate and the bottom of its recess in the projection 2 a yielding cushion or compensating connection against vertical strain.

The surfaces of the recesses 17 and the lugplates 18, which are opposed to the sides of the pad, are rendered suitably abrasive or roughened, as by knurling or checking.

In practice the lower surfaces of the seatblock 5 and the seat 6 are brought into exact alignment, so that the buffers lO and l1 squarely touch and rest upon the edge of the bowl 1 and without strain at the plane 8. In this position the abutment-screws 15 are screwed against the lug-plates 1S, so as to fix the parts in the position to which they are adjusted, the legs 14 being held firmly in the vertical position by the engagement of the abutment-screws l5 with the lug-plates and the engagement of the sidesof the slits 16 with the lugs 20. All necessary range of adjustment between the legs 14, which carry the seat-block 5, and the lug-plates, which hug the projection 2, is obtainable through the depths or lengths of the slits 16.

IOO

When properly adjusted, as above described, the buffers 10 and 11 sit squarely upon the edge of the bowl, and if at any time thereafter, through permanent or temporary compression of the buiers or unequal compression of the buifers 10 and 1l, a strain is exerted at the plane S between the seat-block and the seat, or upon the buffers 10 as a fulcrum the strain is not communicated to the fragile material of the bowl but is taken up and dissipated through the pads 2l, the space 19 permitting the requisite longitudinal or vertical movement of the lug-plates 18 to which the parts that exert the strain are secured.

It will be seen that by reason of the close connection or contact between the pad 17 and the plate 1S the latter under strain will cause the pad to yield edgewise, or, if you please, vertically, but will resume its normal position by reason of the resiliency of the pad when the strain is removed. If, however, the strain is greater than can be compensated for by the yielding of the pad, the connection between the brackets depending from the seat and the plates will be broken, accomplishing the detachment of the parts without bringing the direct strain upon the frangiblc material of which the bowl is composed.

I am aware of the fact that a patent has been granted to one lV. S. CoopeigNe. 335,163, dated J une 26, 1888, for a device analogous to my invention in which a resilient packing is employed; but I do not claim a resilient packing or connection broadly.

It is the object of my present invention to overcome an objection to such construction as is shown in the said patent, which when the limit of movement of the resilient paeking is reached directs the strain upon the frangible material of which the bowl is made. On the contrary, the yielding connection between the seat and bowl of my device is unlimited by the frangible material, and under a less strain than will chip the bowl an entire detaclnnent of the parts will be effected, there being two distinct yielding connections, the first by the yielding of the rubber pad and, second, by the separation of the brackets 12 from the plates 18 under a strain greater than can be resisted by the pad.

I do not limit myself t0 the details of construction herein shown and described, but reserve the right to modify and vary the same within the scope of my invention.

lVhat I claim is- 1. The combination with awatercloset seat and bowl, of a iiat resilient pad upon the side of the bowl, and mechanism connecting the seat with the face of the pad, whereby the pad is compelled to yield edgewise under pressure substantially as specified.

2. The combination with a water-closet bowl and seat, of pads upon the bowl, depending brackets upon the seat, plates intermediate of the brackets and pads, and mechanism carried by the brackets for securing them to the plates and for pressing the plates tightly against the pads, substantially as specified.

3. The combination with a water-closetbowl and seat, of yielding plates carried by the bowl and provided with lugs, brackets depending from the seat and provided with recesses designed to be engaged by the lugs of the yielding plates, and mechanism for securing the brackets to the plates, substantially as specilied.

a. The combination with a bowl and proj eetions thereon, of opposite recesses therein, lug-plates, and lugs in the recesses, a cushion or pad in each of the recesses, a seat and brackets secured thereto, and abutmentscrews carried in the brackets, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In testimony of all which I have hereunto subscribed my name.

JOHN C. FEHIGER, Jn. 1\`\"itnesses:

P. Cnanrr'rs, JAS. GUYER. 

